Murder Suspect’s Mental State Argued

Trial Began June 29

Circuit Judge Gael Wood will take under advisement arguments
from the state and defense team before issuing a verdict for the
murder trial of a Union woman.

The three day bench trial in front of Wood concluded Friday
morning. Attorneys from the Franklin County prosecutor's office and
the defense team for Timothy D. Shults presented closing arguments
that morning.

Shults, 47, is charged with the first-degree murder in the death
of Deborah Marsch, 53, Union. Marsch was strangled to death July 3,
2009, in Union’s Autumn Hill Park in an apparent random act of
violence.

Judge Wood did not say when he would issue a verdict.

Shults recently waived a jury trial and is being tried before
Circuit Judge Gael Wood. In exchange for waiving a jury trial, the
prosecutor’s office agreed to not seek the death penalty for
Shults.

Robert Wolfrum, who is representing Shults, said during closing
arguments that in the murder of Marsch, Shults did not show
"deliberation."

"If we don't know exactly what happened here, how can we say
there was cool reflection," Wolfrum said.

In an effort for a ruling of the lesser conviction of
second-degree murder, Wolfrum argued that Shults’ actions were not
deliberate, but instead triggered by psychological problem
resulting, in part, from a “traumatic brain injury” he suffered in
May 2000 after falling through a floor while working at a
construction site.

Wolfrum argued that his client was not in
the mental state to commit first-degree murder.

"There is no independent proof of the mental state of
deliberation," Wolfrum added.

He also blamed Shults’ actions on depression and a syndrome that
causes anxiety caused by medication.

The state presented much of its evidence Wednesday morning and
the defense called witnesses Thursday. The trial was concluded
Friday following testimony from forensic psychiatrist Dr. John
Rabun, an expert witness for the state.

"It is my opinion that Mr. Shults had the capacity to form
intent as charged," Rabun said.

According to reports, Shults confessed to police on Sunday, July
5, 2009, that he killed the woman, then took detectives to the
location where he dumped her body off Judith Spring Road.

State’s Argument

Franklin County Assistant Prosecutor Brianne Barr, in her
opening statement Wednesday, said that the state would prove that
Shults showed deliberation prior to the death of Marsch.

Barr said that it would have taken three minutes of “constant
pressure” to strangle Marsch.

“Deborah Marsch was an innocent, defenseless human being who did
not deserve to lose her life because he was fed up with his,” she
said.

She added that Shults reacted calmly enough to drag Marsch’s
body from the murder scene to the parking lot of Autumn Hill Park,
put her body in the bed of his truck and drive it to the site where
the body was dumped.

Shults then removed Marsch’s clothing and dumped it in a
different area so it would be harder to identify Marsch, Barr
said.

Marsch had been missing for two days when authorities questioned
Shults about an unrelated incident. Police knew Shults would
sometimes go to Autumn Hill Park and asked about the woman’s
disappearance, according to Barr.

“He had such a strong reaction to the victim’s photograph that
police took him for further questioning,” she said.

‘Mindset’ of Suspect

Wolfrum said that Shults had bouts of depression and was
prescribed medication that led to Aakathisia, a syndrome that
causes restlessness, paranoia and panic. Wolfram said Shults
checked out of a VA hospital July 2, 2009 — the day before Marsch
was murdered — against a doctor’s recommendation.

During the opening statements, Wolfrum stated that three doctors
would testify as expert witnesses in an effort to prove that Shults
should not be convicted of first-degree murder due to his mental
state.

He noted that Shults showed behavioral and health changes
following his fall in 2000. He became more “impulsive” and was
suicidal and depressed.

Wolfrum said in early July 2009, Shults was homeless and
unemployed and in a “down point in his life.”’

“None of this is an excuse,” Wolfrum said, but it shows Shults’
“mindset” prior to the murder.

During police interviews, the suspect said he did not know
Marsch but that he was angry and she was “in the wrong place at the
wrong time.”

Shults also is charged in a separate case with burglary,
kidnapping, armed criminal action and violation of an order of
protection. A trial on those charges has not yet been
scheduled.

Authorities allege that the day after the murder Shults broke
into his estranged wife’s home in Washington, waited for her to
return, then told her that he wanted her to go with him and she
consented. He drove her car to the Labadie area and told her to
walk with him into the woods but she refused and eventually
convinced him to release her, authorities allege.

Later Saturday, after the abduction was reported, Washington
police began an investigation and on Sunday contacted Union police
who were familiar with Shults and his ex-wife who lives in
Union.

Detectives went to the ex-wife’s home and found Shults there,
according to police.